Long Bugs

 Well, we started off this week with Baby Bugs and we've moved onto our Long Bugs!  You'll need a rolling pin or large dowel for each student to support your bug as it dries for this project.  If you want to make this an art & literacy project, you could tie this to Eric Carle's book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for fun with your students.

To begin, give each student a rolling pin or dowel and a baseball size piece of clay.  Break off a small piece of clay and roll it into a coil that is about 3-4" long, drape it over the dowel- this will make one pair of legs.  Continue rolling out coils and draping them over the dowel to make 8, 10 or 20 legs for your Long Bug.  Scratch the tops of all the pairs of legs and put to the side while we make the body.  Take a larger piece of clay and roll it out to a thick coil, about as thick as a hot dog and as long as you want your bug to be.  Scratch the bottom of the larger coil and lay it on top of the scratched parts of the legs.  Use your fingers to blend the body to the legs well.  Shape one end to be the head and the other to be the tail.  You can add on eyes, a mouth, a snout, spikes and antennae (I used high temperature wire or Nichrome wire for my antennae). Textures and designs can be added on now as well.  When you've finished building your Long Bug, let it dry on the dowel.  Once it's dry, carefully slide the dowel out and your bug should stand on its own.  Bisque fire, glaze and glaze fire your bugs.  Find your critter a good place to hide in the garden!

!!!B CR8IV!!!

Bookmark Feet

I found an example of these bookmarks with the Wicked Witch's feet poking out of a book and thought my students would enjoy making their version of someone being squished in a book.  They loved the idea of creating monster feet or animal feet. 

Start with a cylinder of clay and bend the cylinder into an L shape for the feet.  Using small clay tools, design details like toes, shoes, pant legs etc.  Remember that if you are adding any parts on, you need to scratch-to-attach them on.  When you are done forming your legs, use a knife to cut a slot perpendicular to the feet about half an inch deep into the legs.  As your clay dries be careful to keep the space in that slot open, if it gets flattened, you won't be able to attach your cardboard bookmark.  Let your clay dry and bisque fire it, then glaze your pieces as desired and fire again. 

When the clay parts are finished, cut a piece of cardboard that is about 1 1/2" wide by about 5" long.  Put a small amount of glue into the slot and slide in the cardboard.  Let dry while you start reading your favorite book! 

!!B CR8IV!!